Conductive polymers are potentially useful in many applications. For example, in applications in which a conductive polymer is provided as an interface between a metal electrode and biological tissue, the conductive polymer exhibits improved impedance characteristics and provides a softer mechanical interface when compared to conventional metal electrodes. The usefulness of conductive polymers in such applications is often limited, however, because they have poor long-term mechanical properties (e.g. they are brittle and non-elastic), poor electrochemical stability (their conductivity decreases over time) and are typically difficult to process (e.g. because they are relatively insoluble).
Attempts have been made to combine conductive polymers with other types of polymers in order to form a hybrid polymeric material which has improved mechanical properties (whilst still being conductive). For example, attempts have been made to incorporate conductive polymers into hydrogel networks, in which hydrophilic polymer chains are cross-linked to form an insoluble polymer network.
However, due to the significantly different chemical and physical properties of conductive polymers and the polymer constituents of the hydrogel, such attempts usually result in the formation of a polymeric material in which the conductive polymers and the hydrogel are phase separated.